Projecting Philadelphia Phillies' Third Starter in Playoffs

The Philadelphia Phillies are first in the National League Wild Card standings entering their weekend series against the St. Louis Cardinals. They'll look to get back to their winning ways after going 4-6 over their last 10 games.

A series against the struggling Cardinals followed by three games against the Los Angeles Angels, presents them a great opportunity to extend their lead.

With one eye on the postseason, projections have started to come out about who the third pitcher in the starting rotation will be when the Phillies start their Wild Card series in the playoffs.

Zach Wheeler and Aaron Nola will certainly be one and two in the rotation barring anything unforeseen. After the acquisition of Michael Lorenzen at the trade deadline, there are more options for manager Rob Thomson to decide on who will slot into the third spot.

Matt Gelb of The Athletic writes in his mailbag article that he thinks Taijuan Walker will get the ball in that scenario.

"I think Walker starts a hypothetical Game 3 — with the caveat that whoever starts that Game 3 is on the shortest of leashes. My guess is the Phillies would throw everything into that game, an all-hands-on-deck situation," he says.

The right hander signed a four-year, $75 million deal with Philadelphia this offseason. So far, he has delivered in the first year of the contract, recording 13 wins with a 4.02 ERA.

Lorenzen will be the other pitcher in consideration for this spot. After two starts with his new team that dazzled everyone, he struggled in his next two starts giving up 10 earned runs on 16 hits.

A lot of this decision will come down to how players perform down the stretch. Walker is recovering from a fatigued arm that caused him to get an extra day of rest before his last start. Lorenzen needs to find his form that earned him an All-Star selection this season.